Messages

1

Deck Comments / Re: Primal Fury updated - Comments

« on: April 01, 2024, 05:30:22 am »

Five dollars?  I didn't think that was possible!

It doesn't even MATTER if the Deck is "good" when your budget is that low.

That's an achievement unto itself.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Taking Sol Ring out of my commander decks - a reasoning.

« on: April 01, 2024, 05:23:04 am »

I already don't play Sol Ring and never will.  I don't need it, and if I did there's the way more fair Sol Talisman.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Cards that are no longer staples.

« on: May 12, 2023, 10:28:38 pm »

I still run Skyshroud Claim in just about every G/X deck, love to get those duals with it. Looting in mono red or spellslinger decks too usually. Crypt Ghast still makes in every mono b deck I run. Ill run signets in every 2 color deck, usually after all the other rocks have been added.

I dont see stuff like these anymore though:
Blood/Bond combo, Leylines and any of the legal Titans
Consecrated Sphinx
Darksteel Mutation
Lifecrafter's Bestiary
Scavenging Ooze
Mimic Vat
Krosan Grip

Krosan Grip is still extremely popular in my group (as is Trickbind, to a slightly smaller extent); there are some things you just HAVE to stop, without anyone being able to stop you.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Cards that are no longer staples.

« on: May 12, 2023, 01:00:23 am »

Wow, it's almost like most of those cards were ALWAYS bad and some people just took a long time to catch on.

For myself, it was Signets; adding mana directly is ALWAYS better than adding mana TO mana, but I still used them for a long time.

Brainstorm, Faithless Looting, Land Tax, Ponder, Reality Shift and Sadbot are cards I still see a LOT.

I occasionally still see Commander's Sphere too; it's just Arcane Signet that you can sac (even tapped) to draw with for the same total investment as Mind Stone.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Countering Creature Spells

« on: May 11, 2023, 12:20:59 am »

Landale mentioned Disallow, which is the only 3 mana counterspell I use. The versatility is worth it.

What does everyone think of Defabricate and Tale's End?

For the most part I try to stick to 1-2 mana as well. Generally speaking I only make use of 3+ mana counterspells if they're packing a little something extra, synergistic with the deck as a whole, able to be cheaper, or repeatable. Repetition is especially important. For example I've got Hypnotic Sprite in Satoru Umezawa shutting down removal, only to then be used to cheat in yet another thing people would want to remove and set itself up to protect again. I don't think I've ever actually used the Mesmeric Glare portion on a creature, but it has that option.

Defabricate went into my Alandra deck to deal with things like Out of Time and Curse of Conformity, though the added flexibility of hitting activated and triggered abilities has been pretty nice. I haven't tried Tale's End at all though.

For me, it's two mana ONLY, unless it's Disallow; most one-mana cards are too restrictive IMO.  I don't usually like Creature Counters (except for Venser, Shaper Savant and the aforementioned Disallow-on-legs Ertai Resurrected), but Hypnotic Sprite in something like Satoru Umezawa is absolutely BRILLIANT and I simply MUST pass that on to my Satoru-main friend.

Also, FARK Out of Time.  That card's so stupid it's an argument IN FAVOR OF Swan Song.

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Commander Discussion / Re: So of the four Commander Masters commanders spoiled so far, who do you like?

« on: May 11, 2023, 12:08:51 am »

Anikthea, Hand of Erebos is... interesting. She seems to be the exact opposite of Myrkul, Lord of Bones; turning enchantments into creatures. It would certainly give way to a little-to-no creature deck... Although I can't tell if she synergizes well with Myrkul or not... I do like the idea of creatures becoming non-creatures, and non-creatures becoming creatures.

My goodness...I love Umori, the Collector and hope to someday be able to use them with EVERY card type.

Oops! All Enchantments! might actually work now.  I never thought of Anikthea in that way before, but now I might have to brew.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Grading the new staples

« on: May 10, 2023, 11:27:31 pm »

*snip a BUNCH of stacked quotes*
Yup. I remember. A friend really wanted a Pull from Eternity and I pulled one in a pack. I could have fleeced him in a trade (he was offering me crazy amounts of stuff), but I just gave it to him.

That's what a good friend would do.

Just wanted to shout out the tendency we've seen recently towards better utility mana rocks too. Could definitely be considered budget staples. Things like

Decanter of Endless Water
Patriar's Seal
Relic of Legends
Phyrexian Atlas
Bronze Walrus

Gone are the days of 3 mana rocks fixing colours and nothing else. I know the format continues to move towards two mana ramp, but for casual and budget players like myself, these 3 mana rocks with extra upside have been great. Patriar's Seal in particular is superb in certain decks.

I've had a dumb idea in the back of my mind for quite some time now about potentially brewing "Manalith Tribal" using literally ALL of these (with Svella, Ice Shaper as the Commander, of course).  The Celestus is especially good, and while it's not that new I just can't get enough of Chromatic Lantern.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Grading the new staples

« on: May 10, 2023, 11:02:03 pm »

I just ordered a Pull From Eternity. Definitely excited about being able to retrieve the combo pieces my opponent thought were out of the game.

Not a new card, and not a staple, but you're aware of Riftsweeper right?

Both of those cards are from the same Block, one in Fall 2006 and the other in Spring 2007.

I tend not to use the latter, but the logic behind that is sufficiently varied that I can't remember half of it at any given time.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Countering Creature Spells

« on: May 10, 2023, 10:52:16 pm »

I already answered half of that question, but unfortunately you were typing when I posted.

I like Defabricate and have forgotten to try it out; I know it's specific, but it's a sort-of Disallow and also it EXILES, which is huge IMO.

I don't like Dress Down because I tend to play Creatures too and don't want to lock MYSELF out.

10

Commander Discussion / Re: Countering Creature Spells

« on: May 10, 2023, 10:44:00 pm »

I seem to recall catching some heat for claiming I didn't think Swan Song was good about a year ago.  In practice, my "meta" is never so cutthroat that I can't afford a whopping TWO MANA for a counterspell that DOESN'T have dumb restrictions like those.

Wash Away is one of those cards I want to use but keep forgetting to, and I certainly don't run Arcane Denial or Drown in the Loch nearly as much as I should.

Some kind of Disallow effect (especially Tale's End, or Ertai Resurrected now that he exists) is an auto-include for me, and I also love having a card like Unsubstantiate just in case they have "can't be countered".

11

Commander Discussion / Re: So of the four Commander Masters commanders spoiled so far, who do you like?

« on: May 10, 2023, 02:19:25 am »

All of them seem cool, but I personally won't be using any.  I WILL, however, be adding Guff to my list of Planeswalkers I MIGHT use someday (once I get around to adding ALL of the past SEVEN sets' worth).  If you're wondering why I'm so behind: I have a very intense job that I very much love, so I'm either at work or asleep dreaming I am.

My playgroup regular and fellow DeckStats.NET user "Faithbringer" is an Abzan Reanimator main who also likes Selesnya Enchantments, so Anikthea is a shoo-in for them; in addition, they've expressed interest in brewing with Zhulodok, because double Cascade is fun and Colorless Commander is a worthwhile challenge.

Even if I don't end up using {Zhulodok}, the deck itself will likely be useful as a base.

I've said as much myself at least thrice since I discovered that Zhulodok would be heading what HAS to be Magic's first ever Colorless Precon; certainly some NEW Colorless support, and potentially even some additions to Colorless' woefully small Nonpermanent suite.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Grading the new staples

« on: May 09, 2023, 05:16:10 am »

Boseiju, Who Endures, Fateful Absence, and Infernal Grasp (and also Krosan Grip and/or Tear Asunder, which I never Kick) are in basically ALL of my Decks now because they're SUCH good removal and I don't play mono Green.  I never used Nature's Claim because I somehow didn't know it existed until AFTER Boseiju came out, and I don't use Path to Exile (and only occasionally use the similar Swords to Plowshares) because Planeswalkers are common threats in my "meta" and Winds of Abandon is the same effect (albeit slower), but is also a wipe (hello, Vanquish the Horde), and I have plenty of other Instant-speed removal.  Cankerbloom is also good, but my playgroup runs so much removal that I'll never get to use it.

An Offer You Can't Refuse is WAY better than Swan Song (which is much too narrow as I've mentioned in other threads), but I still don't use it (or Tibalt's Trickery) because "can't be countered" has become so prevalent in my playgroup that "traditional" Counterspells are BAD; we use things like Unsubstantiate and Ertai's Meddling instead.  I can see the appeal of Minor Misstep but think it's too narrow (although my playgroup banned Mental Misstep, so it's definitely a welcome alternative...essentially better, even), and Witness Protection is a card I didn't know existed and can't find room for on such short notice.

Esper Sentinel (and Archivist of Oghma, but if I have Black I'd still rather use Opposition Agent) are awesome, Loran of the Third Path is good but I can't seem to fit her in anywhere, and Faerie Mastermind is cool but I'd still rather stop the extra draws with Notion Thief (I don't play mono Blue).

Plaza of Heroes and Relic of Legends are cards I need to use more, and Farewell and Urza's Saga occasionally get cut for space (and my playgroup has banned Sol Ring so there's often only one or two targets for the latter, even including its replacement Sol Talisman).

While I see the appeal of Dauthi Voidwalker, Dress Down, Flumph and Tribute to the World Tree, I would personally never use them; Dress Down doesn't fit easily (and I don't main Storm), I already said I don't play mono Green, and the others suffer from the same issue as Cankerbloom.

I WAY overuse Pull from Eternity, and I personally don't think any of the other cards in this thread are as good as any of you do, but I can't put my finger on why at this time.

13

Deck Comments / Re: MF Snakes on MF planes - Comments

« on: May 06, 2023, 04:13:31 pm »

I'm surprised it isn't a PLANECHASE Deck.

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Commander Discussion / Re: Favorite deck you built just to be silly

« on: May 04, 2023, 09:04:25 pm »

I do this ALL the time; in fact, I have an entire folder wherin MOST of the content is this kind of thing that I just didn't finish building.

Some of my other Decks use some slightly silly interaction(s) even if it ISN'T the entire point, like this one that I'm still working on.
You can't see just by looking at it, but there's four or five funky combos stuck in there all at once, including one to play EVERY Attraction in the game (which can ALSO play every Plane; I need to fit that part in somehow) and one that one-shots the entire table with Commander Damage (extra fun in pods consisting of more than the usual four people).

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General Magic / Re: Planechase in March of the Machines

« on: March 08, 2023, 12:43:06 am »

We also let each player begin the game with a Fractured Powerstone in the command zone.  This led to lots of early die-rolling.

Ooh, now THAT's a cool idea; I did it my way because I wanted to add some intensity when players opting to main the card DREW it and were therefore able to multiroll when nobody else could.  Now that Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients exists, I'll have to change the rules so Planechase rolls can't trigger him; else he'd become too ubiquitous (aha, finally, a word I never use).

Despite the fast mana that everyone had access too (this was in the days before Arcane Signet), the games went very long.  I think this is way we gradually gravitated away from that format.

That's why I set up my CPD in that specific way; I wanted to force Phenomenal Encounters often enough that it wouldn't extend games by as much.